A scripting language for practical agent-oriented programming

This paper describes the features of a scripting language proposed to support the practical implementation of agents and multi-agent systems using an agent-oriented programming approach. Agents are programmed in terms of procedures to be executed when interesting events occur, and the language provides specific constructs to describe managed events and related procedures. Among possible events, those related to communication are supported by specific constructs because of their relevance for the implementation of multi-agent systems. The proposed language is characterised by a strongly expressive syntax largely inspired by modern scripting languages to promote readability and to make agent programs similar to pseudocodes. Such a feature ensures that the programmer can use the language to describe the reactions of agents to events at a high level of abstraction, with all the advantages that it brings in terms of software quality.